Revenge: On the Dynamics of a Frightening Urge and its Taming

The authors' aim in this book is to focus on revenge as a neglected and insufficiently understood psychological mechanism in a broad spectrum ranging from the many and varied revenge acts of everyday life to the extreme societal destructiveness of genocide. Are perpetrators always avengers? What is the destructive potential of ordinary people? Envy, narcissistic wounds and rage are important themes with links to our ancestors. Human affects are central for attachment, symbolization and memory. How we deal with trauma will have an effect on the outcome of the revenge spiral. There are also grey areas between revenge and limit setting; what do these areas look like? The authors develop models for horizontal and vertical relationships, which are important for an open reflective mental space. Via the concept space creating, the book describes the creative space with its possibility for reflection. The dilemma of the professional helper, the consequences of listening to traumatic memories and revenge fantasies, so called vicarious traumas are also taken up. By the end of the book, the necessity of refraining from—and concrete ideas of what we can do to stop—revenge will have been made much clearer.